León Masters: Gelfand beats Aronian in blitz tiebreak

XXIII Ciudad de León Masters

The XXIII Ciudad De Leon tournament took place from June 3rd to 7th 2010 in the Spanish city of León. Four rapid chess games were followed by two blitz tiebreak games if necessary. In the semifinals Boris Gelfand of Israel beat Spanish GM Francisco Vallejo and Levon Aronian of Armenia beat Leinier Dominguez of Cuba. Here are the results:

	Nat.	Rtng.	R1	R2	R3	R4	B1	B2	Tot.	Perf
Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	½	½	½	½	1	½	3.5	2760
Francisco Vallejo	ESP	2703	½	½	½	½	0	½	2.5	2684

Levon Aronian	ARM	2783	½	½	½	1			2.5	2808
Leinier Dominguez	CUB	2713	½	½	½	0			1.5	2696

The final: Boris Gelfand vs Levon Aronian

The theatre in Leon during the final on Sunday

The Sports councilor of the Municipality of Leon, Natalia Rodriguez Picallo, starts
the final match between Levon Aronian and Boris Gelfand

The first two games were drawn. In rapid game three Aronian outplayed Gelfand in an English Opening and finished him off in a nice queen ending. In the last rapid chess game, a Nimzo Indian Rubinstein, Gelfand struck back in another queen ending to equalise the score. Two blitz chess tiebreaks were required.

In the first blitz game Gelfand once again had the white pieces and the two players repeated the Rubinstein up to move eight, when Gelfand deviated. He slowly one two pawns and had passers on the a- and d-files. Aronian could not resist the pressure and resigned after 40 moves.

The final must-win tiebreak game Aronian again tried the English Opening. Gelfand equalised quickly, took the initiative, and settled everything in a final combination.

Aronian,L (2783) - Gelfand,B (2741) [A09]
XXIII Rapid KO Leon ESP (2.6), 06.06.2010
1.Nf3 d5 2.c4 c6 3.e3 Nf6 4.Nc3 e6 5.b3 Bd6 6.Bb2 0-0 7.Be2 dxc4 8.Bxc4 b5 9.Bd3 Bb7 10.Ne4 Nxe4 11.Bxe4 f5 12.Bd3 Nd7 13.h4 Qe7 14.g4 c5 15.gxf5 exf5 16.Bxb5 Ne5 17.Bxe5 Bxe5 18.Rc1 f4

19.0-0? fxe3 20.fxe3 Rxf3 21.Rxf3 Qxh4 22.e4 Bxe4 23.Bc4+ Kh8 0-1.

	Nat.	Rtng.	R1	R2	R3	R4	B1	B2	Tot.	Perf
Boris Gelfand	ISR	2741	½	½	0	1	1	1	4.0	2908
Levon Aronian	ARM	2783	½	½	1	0	0	0	2.0	2616

The winner: GM Boris Gelfand of Israel

Beaten in the tiebreak blitz: Armenian GM Levon Aronian

Photos by Nadja Woisin

Links

The games were broadcast live on the official web site and on the chess server Playchess.com. If you are not a member you can download the free PGN reader ChessBase Light, which gives you immediate access. You can also use the program to read, replay and analyse the PGN games.